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20. WHAT IS A PARTICIPLE?
A participle is a form of a verb which can be used in one of two ways: with an auxiliary verb to indicate certain tenses or as an adjective or modifier to describe something.
I was writing a letter. I I auxiliary participle L past tense
The broken vase was on the floor.
participle describing vase
There are two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle. As you will learn, participles are not always used in the same way in English and Spanish.
The Present Participle
IN ENGLISH The present participle is easy to recognize because it is an -ing form of the verb: working, studying, dancing, playing.
The present participle has two primary uses:
1. as the main verb in compound tenses with the auxiliary verb to be (see What are the Progressive Tenses?, p. 70) She is singing.
present progressive of to sing
They were dancing. III past progressive of to dance
2. as an adjective
This is an amazing discovery. describes the noun discovery
He was a good dancing partner. describes the noun partner
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IN SPANISH The present participle is formed by adding -ando to the stem of -ar verbs and -iendo to the stem of -er and -ir verbs. The -ndo of the Spanish participle corresponds to the -ing of the English present par- ticiple. Infinitive Stem Present participle cantar cant- cantando corner corn- comiendo vivir viv- viviendo
There are some irregular forms that you will have to memorize indi- vidually. The present participle is used primarily in the formation of the progressive tenses (see What are the Progressive Tenses?, p. 70).
Careful Never assume that an English word ending in -ing will translate by its Spanish counterpart in -ndo. For example, after prepositions (see What is a Preposition?, p. 129) Spanish uses the infinitive form of the verb instead of a verb form ending in -ing.
After eating dinner, we went to the movies. preposition -tng form
Desçués de cenar, fuirnos al cine. preposition infinitive
The Past Participle
IN ENGLISH The past participle is formed in several ways. You can always find it by remembering the form of the verb that follows I have: I have spoken, I have written, I have walked. The past participle has two primary uses: 1. as the main verb in compound tenses with the auxiliary verb to have I have written all that I have to say. He hadn’t spoken to rne since our quarrel. 2. as an adjective
Is the written word more important than the spoken word? describes the noun word describes the noun word
IN SPANISH The past participle of regular verbs is formed using the following pat- tern: -ar verbs add -ado to the stem and -er and -ir verbs add -ido to the stem. Infinitive Stem Past participle hablar habl- hablado corner com- comido vivir viv- vivido
You will have to memorize irregular past participles individually. As you can see from the following examples, the past participle may be very different from the infinitive. Infinitive Past participle decir dicho escribir escrito poner puesto romper roto
As in English the past participle can be used as part of a compound verb or as an adjective.
1. as the main verb in compound tenses with the auxiliary verb haber (to have) to indicate a perfect tense (see What are the Perfect Tenses?, p. 82) Los estudiantes han terminado la lección. The students have finished the lesson. 2. as an adjective When the past participle is used as an adjective, it must agree with the noun it modifies in gender and number.
the closed doors Closed modifies the noun door. Since is puerta (door) is feminine singular, the word for closed must be feminine singular. The par- ticiple must end -a. la puerta cerrada
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the broken records Broken modifies the noun records. Since los discos (records) is masculine plural, the word for broken must be masculine plural. The participle must end in -os. los discos rotos |
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